Martians have Landed

Finally, after much delay, the Tripods and Triplanes Kickstarter has landed. This is a fun add-on for Wings of Glory (Wings of War as was). Unfortunately, a series of events kept delaying the release from Ares games, but it turned up on my doorstep last week (in the pouring rain as the despatch driver didn't put it in the 'safe place' I'd specified. Thankfully it was extremely well packaged inside so avoided rain damage.)

The base game, despite its name, does not actually include a Triplane but instead is a 1 on 1, Mk.1 Tripod vs Rocket-armed Nieuport N16, which was previously available years ago as part of the Balloon Buster set and which was at the time too pricey for me.

The add-ons from the Kickstarter, included a full set of each of the four Marks of Martian Warmachines, a paper game mat, Balls' N16, Richtoffen's final plane, and a captured Sopwith Camel in german livery! plus extra rules to play the game solitaire and additional card and counters so you can play larger games.

The picture above shows all Marks of Warmachines, You get one of the Mk.I 'Locusts' shown in the front row in the base set. Back row (left to right) Mk.II 'Scarab', Mk.IV 'Cuttlefish', Mk.III 'Squid'

The starter included multiple damage-decks custom to the game (but some also compatible with original WoW damage decks via icons in the card corners.) So you only need to buy the Warmachine which includes manoeuvre deck and stat card, just like the Wings of War aeroplanes.

Half the planes from the re-release of the original series 1 planes won't see service as I already have them from the initial release. So Webers' Albatros D.V and Foncks' SPAD XIII will probably be appearing on a convention bring and buy some time in the future along with the freebie WW2 expansion counters and chit bags.

Having a proper read of the rules shows that it should be a fairly balanced game. Running a Warmachine is slightly more complex than a plane but still simple and not too far removed from managing a plane. Should result in a bit of a 'King Kong' fight as it's harder for the Martians to hit the planes but when they do there's a good chance of significant damage. The Martians will also have to manage their energy levels carefully so as to keep their special actions and shields available.
¶